John a



(No Model.)

J. A. 85 0; CLARK.

- LOOM REED.

No. 570,381. Patented 00t. 2'7, 1896.

MM Jam (0. m.

NITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

JOHN A. CLARK AND CHARLES CLARK, OF WORCESTER, MASSACI'IUSETS, ASSIGNORSTO THE CROMPTON LOOM YVORKS, OF SAME PLACE.

LOOM-REED.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 570,381, dated October27, 1896. Application filed January 6, 1896. Serial No. 574,415. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN A. CLARK and CHARLES CLARK, of Worcester,county of lVorcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented anImprovement in Loom-Reeds, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings rep resenting like parts.

This invention in looms has especial reference to loo1n-reeds, theobject of the invention, broadly stated, being to provide the reed withreed-spaces having at or near their upper ends entrances madeflaring tobetter receive enlargements or knots on the warpthreads travelingtherethrough and to prevent said enlargements or knots catching at theentrances to said spaces.

Our invention is particularly useful in connection with reeds whereinthe reed-spaces are contracted at or near their upper ends for thepurpose of centering or uniformly spacing the warp-threads as the reedmoves into its rearmost position, this desirability of spacing orcentering being especially apparent in looms for weaving tufted fabrics,wherein the tuft-yarns must be regularly inserted between theWarp-threads.

Our invention further comprehends the depressing of the top of thereed-space back of the entrance thereto, which with the above will behereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure'l in side elevation represents a sufficientportion of a tufted loom provided with a reed embodying our invention toenable the latter to be understood. Fig. 2 in perspective shows a partof a reed embodying our invention, and such as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3in side elevation shows one of the reed-dents detached; Fig. 4, a detailon the dotted line 00 00, Fig. 3, showing one of the reeds andreed-spaces in vertical crosssection; Fig. 5, an enlarged detail of thetop of the upper end of the reed member in elevation.

To illustrate our invention we have herein elected to describe the samein connection with a loom substantially such as shown in United StatesLetters Patent No. 490,237,

1 Referring to the drawings, the arms 18, the

tuft-yarn beam or spoolcZ the tuft-yarn tubes or quills 0, and means foroperating the same to insert tuft-yarns between the warp-threads and thelay d are and may be of usual or desired construction, such, forinstance, as shown and described in said Patent No. 490,237, likeletters representing like parts, the latter being arranged to operate asfully set forth in said patent, further description herein being deemedunnecessary.

Referring now to Fig. 2, in the embodiment of our invention hereinshown, 7" is a bar mounted upon the lay d and shown as provided atitsfront side with a series of closely- 7o arranged vertical slots rintersecting which is a longitudinal (preferably V-shaped) groove r tobe referred to. The reed 'r, as herein shown, is made up of a series ofindependently-removable (preferably U-shaped) mem hers-1T shown asformed from flat metal strips and arranged with their legs in the slots7 referred to, each slot preferably receiving adjacent legs of two ofsaid U-shaped members, as best shown in Fig. 2. The legs of theseU-shaped members 7' are notched at their front edges to correspond andregister with the V-shaped groove 1- the said members, as shown, beingretained in proper position by a clamping member r applied to the faceof the bar 1' and having a /\-shaped longitudinal lip or flange 4',which enters the groove r referred to and the corresponding notches inthe legs of the U-shaped members and is secured in position in suitablemanner,

as by screws 1. By this construction removal of the plate 7' permits anysingle reed memher to be removed without disturbing the position of anyother member, each pair of vertical legs in any single slot r reed-dentand each space 1' formed by and within a U -shaped reed memberconstituting a reed-space.

The reed-spaces r are of a normal width sufficient to permit two or morewarp-threads I00 constituting a passing therethrough to be freelycrossed in shedding. At one of their ends-herein their upper ends wehave shown the said reedspaces at their middle contracted at r insuitable manner, as by pinching together the legs of the membersadjacent the crownbends thereof to a width preferably such as willreceive but a single thread each, so that when the threads are opened inshedding, those threads moved into the upper plane of the shed will becarried into these contracted portions of the reed-spaces and willtherefore be properly centered and spaced one from another andrestrained against lateral vibration or play. In accordance with ourpresent invention, however, the entrances to the reedspaces andpreferably the entrances to the upper portions of said spaces atopposite sides of the reed are made larger than the smaller portionsback of said entrances, that is, said entrances are made, as it were,flaring, as best indicated at r to enable burs or knots on thewarp-threads to more freely enter the reed'spaces; Thus, were it not forthe flaring entrances, the contracted upper portions of the reed-spaceswould frequently bar the entrance thereto of any considerableenlargement on a warp-thread, whereas by our invention the flaringentrances admit of the entrance to the reed-spaces of any burs orenlargements, which latter are worked or carried through the morecontracted portions of the reed-spaces without breaking the threads orinterrupting the passage of the same through the reed.

WVe also preferably depress the tops of the reed-spaces, as shown at rpreferably at their middle, to not only provide a better and moresuitable enlargement at the entrances thereof, but also to present atleast a part of the tops of said reed-spaces in such positions as willmore nearly conform to the angular position of the warp-threadsrelatively to the reed when the latter is in its extreme angularposition.

Our invention is not limited to the particular construction hereinshown, for it is evident that the same may be varied without departingfrom the spirit and scope of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we claim is 1. The herein-describedloom-reed, containing reed-dents provided at or near their upper endsand back of the face of the reed with converging portions, to therebycontract the reed-spaces back of the face of the reed, to presentrelatively-flaring entrances to the contracted portions of thereed-spaces, substantially as described.

2. The described loom-reed composed of reed-dents, provided at or neartheir upper ends with central converging portions serving to contractthe middle upper portions of the reed-spaces leaving oppositerelativelyflaring entrances to the contracted portions of saidreed-spaces, substantially as described.

The described loom-reed composed of reed-dents formed to present for agreater part of their length reed-spaces of, substantially the samewidth from one to the opposite side of the reed, said. reed-dents beingconstructed at or near their upper ends to present relatively-flaringentrances to the adjacent portions of the intervening reedspaces,substantially as described.

4. The described loom-reed composed of a plurality of fl-shap'ed membersand a support to which they are secured,said fi-shaped members beingcontracted at or near their crown ends and back of the face of the reedto present reed-spaces having contracted top portions withrelatively-flaring entrances to said contracted top portions,substantially as described.

5. The described loom-reed composed of a plurality of fl-shaped membersand a support to which they are secured, said fi-shaped members beingcontracted at their crown ends and intermediate the front and back facesof the reed, to thereby present reedspaces having contracted upperportions with opposite relatively-flaring entrances to said contractedupper portions, substantially as described.

6. The described l0omreed containing {'1- shaped members and a supportto which they are secured, the said fi-shaped members being contractedat or near their crown ends and back of the face of the reed, to therebyform reed-spaces having contracted upper portions with flaring entrancesto said contracted upper portions, said reed-dents being also depressedat their crown ends and back of the reed-face, whereby said entrancesare made vertically as well as laterally flaring, substantially asdescribed.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN A. CLARK. CHARLES CLARK. \Vitnesses:

James F. WALKER, GRACE E. HIBBERT.

